Did you know that the tooth is the only part of the body that cannot heal itself? Find out why…

Almost all of our body parts are able to heal themselves including our bones, organs and tissues. If you fall over and scrape your knee or break a bone, your body will naturally heal itself. This cannot be said for our teeth. Even after millions of years of evolution the human tooth is unable to heal itself. Why?

A professor at the University of Oslo in Norway has clarified the reason why teeth are unable to heal themselves. ‘Cells are what start the healing process in our bodies, and as tooth enamel consists of 90 percent minerals, there aren’t many proteins and cells there,’ she says. She notes that at the very start of the roots of our teeth we are endowed with cells that can offer just a little amount of repair, but this doesn’t extend up to the crown. And this leaves the better part of the teeth highly exposed to the environment: any slight wear and tear and it is irreparable. Carbonated and acidic drinks are the biggest culprits involved in tooth damage.

Teeth consist of; Dentin, Pulp, Cementum (a protective layer over the roots) and of course Enamel. It is a fact that tooth enamel is the hardest of all substances manufactured by the human body. It is stronger than bone and concrete. With this in mind it would be ignorant to think the body can replace it easily.

Carbohydrates in food and drinks interact with the bacteria in our...

Smiling is infectious,

You catch it like the flu,

When someone smiled at me today,

I started smiling too.

I passed around the corner,

And someone saw my grin,

When he smiled I realized,

I’d passed it onto him.

I thought about that smile,

Then I realised its worth,

A single smile, just like mine,

Could pass around the earth.

So if you feel a smile begin,

Don’t leave it undetected,

Let’s start an epidemic quick,

And get the world infected!

The toothbrush does not remove 6 months of tartar 30 minutes before your appointment.

Some people choose to improve their dental hygiene just before their next dental appointment. We put together this little illustration as a reminder…

Brushing your teeth after every meal, A habit that does more harm than good…

I have read certain articles recently that promotes brushing your teeth after every meal. Although this may sound like a good idea it is better to brush twice a day every morning and evening. Food can leave acid on your teeth that can weaken the enamel. Brushing it away when the enamel is in a weakened state can scrub a small amount of enamel away too. If you want to clean your mouth after eating it is a much better idea to drink a glass of water.

Heartbroken mother will not resuscitate daughter, 3, left in a coma by routine root canal surgery that girl may not even have needed

A Hawaii mother has decided not to resuscitate her daughter after the 3-year-old fell into a coma earlier this month while undergoing dental surgery.

Ashley Boyle brought her daughter Finley into Island Dentistry for Children on December 3 for four root canals and 10 cavity fillings. But when Finley was given the maximum dosage of drugs, she went into cardiac arrest and couldn’t be revived.

For the past month, Ms Boyle has held out hope that her daughter’s condition would improve, but Finley never woke up and she doesn’t want her daughter to live in a vegetative state. She says Finley will probably pass within a day.

‘It sounds like she’s drowning in my arms,’ Boyle told reporters at a press conference yesterday.

Ms Boyle will continue to fight for her daughter even after her death. She has already filed a lawsuit against Dr Lilly Geyer, the dentist who performed the procedure.

In the suit, Ms Boyle claims that Dr Geyer and her associates administered too much anesthesia and didn’t follow protocol to closely monitor Finley’s condition.

Ms Boyle is being represented by attorney Richard Fried who called the maximum dosages of 5 different drugs ‘grossly excessive’.

He cites the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry’s standards which warn that young childr...

For the child who has everything, now there’s chocolate flavoured toothpaste – which costs £60 per tube.

Luxury oral care firm Theodent use an extract from the cacao plant instead of fluoride, something they say is a family-friendly alternative substance, not least because it tastes like pudding. ‘Harnessing the power of the cocoa bean’, the patented ingredient dubbed Rennou is a safe-to-swallow.

But if users choose to swallow the chocolate-tasting toothpaste, they’ll also be swallowing their own plaque!

The toothpaste range is available through Theodent’s website, through which they ship worldwide, and at selected Foods Markets. Other credentials include that the range is fluoride free, using theobromine, calcium, and phosphate to create a natural alternative, say Food Beast.

Theodent also claims that these compounds not only clean teeth, but actually build up your enamel, making your pearly whites even stronger.

As for why it costs such a steep price has not been confirmed. The classic toothpaste claims to only cost £6 ($10), but is currently unavailable for purchase on the website. But the Theodent 300 – the extra strength paste with extra high doses of rennou – is available for purchase, costing £61 ($99.99) per tube. Multipacks raise the price even higher and shipping costs also apply.

Crest launch ‘decadent’ coco and mint flavoured toothp...

An extreme case of Odontoma was found in India recently. A 17 year old boy had up to 232 teeth like growths removed from his mouth during a 7 hour operation. A large mass had to be chiseled from his jaw line fortunately not leaving any damage to the jaw bone so the jaw line would heal without any deformities.

The boy’s father had told the local newspapers in India that he had thought it was a large cancerous growth. The removal of all 232 marble like structures puts him at the world record for this condition. Prior to that is was the removal of 37 growths had been reportedly removed.  Odontoma is split into two categories: Common and Complex Odontoma, this case was and still is the worst case of Complex Odontoma, so just exactly what is Odontoma?

No one really knows why Odontoma forms. It is a type of dental tumor which is benign which usually forms at the root of a tooth. It is made up of some, if not all of the dental components that make teeth.  It may result from some sort of trauma or in some cases be hereditary. One form of an inherited syndrome is Gardener Syndrome. These growths are not always visible to the naked eye. Odontoma is more often found in young adults around the age of 14 where it looks as if a tooth has not emerged. There are many conditions and symptoms of Odontoma, but they are overlooked.  Most of the time this condition cannot be diagnosed without an x-ray, tomography or an MRI as it appears to be like an impacted wisdom tooth....

No… we are not about to tell you to remove your teeth and start selling them on E-Bay! This is all about the magic of losing your baby teeth and the origins of the Tooth Fairy ;)

Unlike the magic Father Christmas not a lot is written or spoken about the Tooth Fairy. Indeed there was a movie named ‘Toothless’ released in 1997 which most of us will struggle to remember. Yet for almost every child in Europe the USA and other parts of they will experience the short story of the Tooth Fairy.

It seems the Tooth Fairy has been around for many years with the first mention of any kind around 1927. Rituals involving the disposal of Baby Teeth go back a lot longer than that and it seems to be worldwide undertaken by most parents of young children who lose their Baby Teeth.

The story is a simple one: The child leaves their tooth under their pillow and the Tooth Fairy appears during the night taking the tooth and usually leaving some money in its place. Of course this always happens while the child is sleeping, wink wink, nudge nudge!

Some of the rituals reported include offering the teeth to the sun, throwing it in a fire, placing in a mouse hole, buried or even swallowed by the mother or child! (Personally I don’t fancy the last idea!)

One most widely documented ritual spanning from Russia to New Zealand and Mexico is to offer the Baby Tooth to a mouse or rodent so that the Childs Adult teeth will become strong and sturdy just lik...